


Damage Control

by nikkiRA



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 05:18:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4734107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikkiRA/pseuds/nikkiRA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I couldn’t save Lee. I couldn’t save Michael. I couldn’t save Silena.”</p>
<p>“You saved Annabeth when she was stabbed, right? And Annabeth was kind of imperative to the whole saving the world effort. The people you save go on to do things and help people and save people. When you lose someone, you lose them. But when you save someone, you save a dozen more people.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Damage Control

**Author's Note:**

> Because I like the idea that Will takes losing people very, very hard, but most of the fics I've read about it portray him as being very depressed afterwards, which is obvs a very valid interpretation, but I wanted to write something where he got angry, instead. So here we are. 
> 
> This takes place a few years after the war with Gaea. I like the idea that Percy and Annabeth come back to spend summers at Camp Half-Blood, which is why they are in the fic, even though they're definitely in college by now.

Sometimes he really, really hates his job.

“Will,” he says quietly. “There’s nothing you can do.”

Will ignores him.

Two new arrivals at Camp Half-Blood. But only one of them is staying.

“Will. She’s gone.”

“No.” The word is a snarl. Nico watches him, sees the desperation on his face. Nico reaches out and gently pulls him away.

“Will. You’re going to drain all of your energy. It’s not use. She’s in the Underworld. I can feel it.”

Will looks like he’s about to fight, but he is exhausted from the healing. He stares in dismay at the lifeless body on the bed.

“Is she…” Nico looks up to see the other girl standing in the doorway. He doesn’t think they’re sisters, just two half-bloods on the run. The girl he is looking at is probably nine or so; the dead girl on the table is around twelve. The satyr who had brought them is being healed with nature magic, but is expected to pull through.

The little girl catches sight of the body on the table and comes over, tears in her eyes. “She was protecting me,” she says quietly. “From the monsters. She was protecting me.”

“She’ll go to Elysium,” is all Nico can think to say, but he doubt this helps much – he doesn’t even think this little girl knows what Elysium is.

The girl takes the lifeless hand of her friend and holds it. She is crying freely now. Will’s jaw is tight; he takes one look at the situation and walks away.

Nico sighs. He lets Will have his space, instead going to find Chiron to tell him what had happened.

The centaur purses his lips when Nico is done. “Oh, dear. Could you please find Annabeth for me? Unfortunately she is very well acquainted with the situation and she could be some help.”

Nico does so, and Annabeth shakes her head sadly when Nico finishes telling her what happened. He is planning on just going back to his cabin when Kayla runs over to him.

“Nico! We need help.”

“With?”

Her expression is very grim.

“Will.”

* * *

“The dryads are not going to like that.”

Will is in the forest, a sword in his hand. It is strange to see Will with a sword; he is not comfortable with it, and he holds it with both hands as he slashes repeatedly at a tree. His face is screwed up in anger, and there is sweat dripping down his face.

“I – don’t – care,” he says, punctuating each word with a swing of the sword. Nico can see his arms shaking with the effort. After the amount of energy he had expended during the healing, Nico is afraid he is going to drop from exhaustion.

“Solace. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Will starts hitting the tree with such renewed vigor that Nico realizes that’s what he wants.

“This isn’t helping anyone.”

“Neither am I,” he says, his lip curled up.

“Don’t be fucking ridiculous. What happens when our head medic ends up collapsing because he got into a fight with a tree?”

“There are other healers.”

“Not like you. You know that.”

Will shakes his head and hits the tree again, but it is weak, and he drops the sword. Nico walks over and picks it up to study it.

“This is way too heavy for you. You’re not going to be able to lift your arms for days.”

“I’ll live.” Will collapses onto the ground, back against the tree. Nico throws the sword away and perches on a rock across from him.

“This was pretty stupid, you know.”

Will glares. “How can you be so callous? She was 12 years old. It’s not fair.”

“Death’s not fair.”

“Save it,” he snaps. “I don’t need your philosophical mumbo jumbo about the meaning of life and death. She never even found out her parent was.” He leans his head back against the tree. “She could have been powerful. Helpful. Useful. More useful than me.”

This statement makes Nico so angry that the temperature drops about ten degrees.

“Don’t you fucking start, Solace. Just because you’re not powerful in certain ways doesn’t mean you’re not powerful. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean you’re not fucking useful.”

“I can’t fight. I can barely fire an arrow properly. My father is the damn god of archery and I can hardly _shoot._ I can’t even pick out a sword properly! All I can do is damage control.”

“We’re all pretty goddamned damaged, Will.”

“I can’t even do that properly.”

“You can’t save everybody.”

“Why not?”

“Because you _can’t.”_

“Then what is the POINT OF ME?” He shouts this at the sky, and a few birds fly chittering out of the trees. Nico sighs.

“I would be dead if it weren’t for you.” Will doesn’t look at him. “I would have faded away. I would have kept using my powers until they killed me.”

“I couldn’t save Lee. I couldn’t save Michael. I couldn’t save Silena.”

“You saved Annabeth when she was stabbed, right? And Annabeth was kind of imperative to the whole saving the world effort. The people you save go on to do things and help people and save people. When you lose someone, you lose them. But when you save someone, you save a dozen more people.”

Will is breathing hard, but he seems to be calming down.

“Are you done being an idiot?”

Slowly, he nods. “That was oddly inspiring, you know.”

“That’s me. Always inspiring the people around me.”

Will gives him the tiniest smile. Nico climbs off the rock and sticks a hand out. “C’mon.”

Will takes his hand and pulls himself up. He holds it all the way out of the forest, and Nico lets him.

* * *

When they get back to the Big House, they find Chiron and Annabeth waiting.

“We thought you should know – that girl, Courtney – she was claimed after death. Demeter. They’re making her a shroud. We’ll need you to do the rights,” she adds to Nico, who nods. “And Will – you did all you could.”

His face says very clearly that he doesn’t believe her, but he nods nonetheless.

* * *

That night, long after curfew, there is a knock on the door. Nico is not really surprised to see Will standing there.

“I can’t lift my arms,” he says with a grimace, collapsing onto Nico’s bed.

“I told you,” Nico says, sitting down beside him. “Next time you want to beat up a tree, let me know so I can pick out a sword for you.”

Will smiles slightly, but he stares at the ground, picking fluff off of Nico’s comforter.

“Why are you here, Solace? It’s late.”

“I knew you’d be awake.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Will takes a deep breath. “I wanted to apologize.”

“For what?”

“For today.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.”

“I feel like that’s all I’m capable of doing.”

“Now you’re being an overdramatic idiot. So you had a minor breakdown. You should be apologizing to the dryads, not me.”

Will looks almost sheepish when he says, “I made sure it wasn’t anybody’s tree before I hit it.”

Nico makes a noise deep in his throat. “Even when you’re out of your mind you’re fucking thoughtful. Gods, you’re annoying.”

Will smiles.

“I also wanted to thank you. For what you did.”

Nico shrugs. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You were the only one who didn’t tiptoe around me.”

“I don’t think it’s safe to tiptoe around demigods.” They sit in silence for a minute or two before Nico speaks again. “What happened to your brothers wasn’t your fault, you know.”

Will sighs. “I wasn’t ready to be head counselor. I didn’t want to be.”

“Teenagers fighting a war,” Nico says grimly.

“Two wars.”

“We all did the best we could, Will. You’ll kill yourself obsessing over everything you could have done differently. You have to forgive yourself. Trust me.”

“You’re very wise.”

“Shut up.”

“No, seriously. You’re like my grandpa. You’re probably the same age as my grandpa, too.”

“I hate you.”

“Nah, you don’t,” he says, poking Nico in the stomach. Nico slaps his hand away with a scowl.

“I don’t think anyone else could have calmed me down like you did.”

Nico shrugs, but his cheeks are burning. “Doubt it. You’re a calm person by nature, Solace.”

“Would you just accept a damn compliment?”

“I’m not good with compliments.”

Will rolls his eyes. “You’re very difficult.”

“I’ve been told.”

Will lies down, blond hair spread out across Nico’s pillow.

“What are you doing?”

“Lying down.”

“I see that. You have your own bed. In your own cabin.”

A shadow passes over Will’s face. “I can’t go back to my cabin. Everyone… it’s just… I can’t.”

Nico nods. He doesn’t really understand, but he doesn’t have to. “Okay. Sure.” He tries to get up, planning to sleep in the other bed, but Will’s hand snaps out to grab his wrist.

“Stay.” His voice is quiet and pleading. Nico is uncomfortable, but he finds he can’t say no. Not when Will looks so… _needy._

“Okay,” he says. He lies back down. Will turns on his side, his eyes very bright.

“I dream about them,” he whispers. “The ones I can’t save. They’re mad at me. They tell me it was my fault.”

“That’s not true.”

“I can barely sleep anymore. I’ve had to start going to the Hypnos cabin. Ever since the Titan war.”

“I dream of Tartarus every night,” he says. He never speaks about his nightmares; he is ashamed of them. “Why do you think I’m always awake?”

“Are they very bad?”

Nico can only nod.

Tentatively, Will reaches out and puts a hand on Nico’s chest.

“I’ll tell you about them, one day,” he says. Will’s eyes widen.

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.”

He has gotten close to Will, in the years following Gaea’s defeat, but it isn’t until this moment that he realizes just how close. Because he will tell Will about his nightmares. He wants to let him into that part of his life. The only people he had talked to about them are Hazel, because he tells Hazel everything, and Percy, because they both found it helpful and therapeutic to talk to someone who had been there. But he will tell Will, one day.

Will’s hand is travelling lightly over Nico’s body, fingers ghosting across his chest and his stomach and his arms. “Can I stay?”

“Only if you take the blame if we get caught.”

Will gives him the first real smile he’s seen all day, wide and bright and blinding.

“Deal.”

* * *

Nico wakes up tangled with Will Solace. Their legs are entwined together, and Will’s buried in his chest, which is odd, since Will is decently taller than him. Sunlight streams through the window, hitting Will in the face. Nico wonders if he attracts it, like a magnet. Then he wonders in horror if this means Apollo is spying on them.

“Will,” he says, gently untangling himself and leaning away. “Solace. Wake up.”

Will makes an angry noise and buries deeper into Nico’s chest. “No.”

Nico sighs. “Will.”

Will lifts his head, looking around blearily. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and then grins sleepily at Nico.

“Morning, Sunshine.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Morning, Death Boy.”

Nico scowls. “Not any better.”

“Then what am I supposed to call you?”

“How about my name?”

“Boring.”

Nico is very aware of their proximity. He is also very aware of how nice Will looks. People shouldn’t be allowed to look like that so early in the morning. Even his breath smells nice. Nico kind of wants to kill him. He also kind of wants to kiss him.

“I feel better,” Will says.

“Do you really?”

He nods, even though Nico can still see sadness in his eyes, and an intense amount of guilt. Nico won’t push.

“Thank you,” Will says sincerely. Nico rolls his eyes.

“Stop saying thank you.”

Will smiles, sitting up and leaning on his elbows.

“People probably noticed you were missing.”

Will shrugs, unconcerned. “Maybe not. I’ve fallen asleep in the infirmary tons of times.”

Nico yawns and catches Will staring down at him fondly.

“What?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Nico turns very, very red and sputters incoherently for a moment before saying, finally, “You don’t have to ask.”

“Didn’t want to scare you away.”

“You won’t.”

Will’s lips are soft, his fingers gentle on Nico’s face.

“My breath is probably awful,” Nico mutters. Will doesn’t answer, just kisses him again, which is all the answer Nico needs.

By the time they finally pull away Will’s hair is a mess and Nico is a very startling shade of red. Their breathing is laboured and Will can’t stop smiling.

“Now I’m definitely better,” he says. Nico shakes his head.

“Come on, idiot. I’m hungry.”

When they walk out the door Will stops so abruptly that Nico walks into his back.

“What?”

“What indeed, Nico.”

Half the camp, including Chiron, is standing around staring. Nico catches sight of Percy, looking vaguely amused, and Jason, who looks like he’s ready to grab Nico by the ear and then ground him. So Nico does the only thing he can think to do. He grabs Will and drags him back into the cabin, ignoring Chiron and the loud catcalls from the campers.

He drags Will to a shadow in the corner.

“Want to go to China?” He asks. Will smiles and kisses him deeply against the wall, which isn’t really an answer, but he isn’t going to complain.


End file.
